Neglected Tropical Diseases

The Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) Programme provides technical orientation, support and guidance to Member States in the WHO African Region in order to contribute to the prevention, control, elimination and eradication of Neglected Tropical Diseses (NTDs) and Zoonoses.

15 December 2015, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - More than 17 million children aged between 5–14 years will be treated for two neglected tropical diseases – soil-transmitted helminthiases (intestinal worms) and schistosomiasis (bilharzia) between 23 November 2015 and 29 February 2016. The programme by the Ethiopian Federal Ministry of Health started on 23 November 2015 in Hawassa in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region.

10 December 2015 - Currently, about 80% of people exposed to rabies live in poor, rural areas of Africa and Asia with no access to prompt treatment. A new framework to eliminate human rabies and save tens of thousands of lives each year has been launched today by WHO and partners. The framework calls for 3 key actions - making human vaccines and antibodies affordable, ensuring people who get bitten receive prompt treatment, and mass dog vaccinations to tackle the disease at its source.

3 December 2015 - Efforts towards controlling and eliminating neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) from the African Region are gaining momentum. Ministers of Health from the Region have agreed on the establishment of the Expanded Special Project for Elimination of Neglected Tropical Diseases (ESPEN). The initiative is expected to eliminate Onchocerciasis/river blindness, lymphatic filariasis/elephantiasis, trachoma, schistosomiasis/bilharzia and soil-transmitted helminthiases/intestinal worms) through use of preventive chemotherapy.

28 September 2015 - The World Health Organization (WHO), The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) unite in urging countries to develop appropriate investment strategies to eliminate human rabies - a disease mainly transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected dog and is widespread in low-income countries, with little or no domestic dog management or vaccination programmes.